Evil Dead: The Series 22: "Wicked"
by OmarSnake
Summary: By Guest Writer M'Lu...


"Evil Dead: The Series" Episode 22  
  
"Wicked"  
  
By: M'Lu  
  
Hi, readers o' mine! My friend M'Lu, who I've collaborated with on some other stories and who has written some very good Brisco County stories, asked me awhile back (a looooong while back) if she could write a story with my E.D. characters. I think you'll enjoy it. (I'll pass feedback back to her) -- Omar  
  
****************************  
  
Lajos Szabo sits in a high-backed leather chair, a glass of bourbon held, seemingly forgotten, in one hand as he takes in the magnificent view of nighttime New York granted him by the floor-to-ceiling windows in the corner of his penthouse office. A sleek Doberman, so finely groomed its coat glistens, lies in front of the chair, its muzzle resting on Szabo's shoe, black eyes intent on its master's face. Suddenly the elevator at the other end of the office whirs to a halt, and the Doberman springs to its feet, trotting across the room as the doors slide open. The dog's threatening stance eases as a reed-slender blonde woman steps out and walks over. She pauses briefly to offer the animal one swan-white hand to sniff. The dog's tongue flicks out once, quickly, touching the back of her hand as if kissing it in reverence. The woman moves to stand beside Szabo's chair, looking out at the lights of the city.  
  
"What have you seen, Oracle?" Szabo asks.  
  
"It is as we feared. She has found Her way back into this world, and She seeks Williams."  
  
"She is a genuine danger?"  
  
"She has grown terribly strong. She holds even Kandarians under Her power now."  
  
Szabo digests this in silence.  
  
"She will destroy all you hope to achieve if She reaches Williams." Oracle says, turning now to face the man.  
  
"He hasn't been defeated yet." Szabo states without emotion. "Why should I believe this will be any different?"  
  
"Don't play the fool, Lajos. It doesn't become you. You know this is different. The Deadites themselves whisper Her name in awe."  
  
Szabo nods. "You believe She'll kill him." It is not a question.  
  
"A mouse to the mamba, Lajos. She hates the blood in his veins. She has hated it for centuries."  
  
"Of course, of course. So what do we do about this...complication?"  
  
"Damned if I know."  
  
Szabo stares out the window, unmoving. "I suggest you start looking for a way. I haven't worked this hard to let one grudge-carrying bitch ruin everything."  
  
Oracle sighs. "I understand. I'll begin immediately."  
  
She leaves by way of the elevator. Szabo downs his bourbon in one shot.  
  
"Sorry, Alti," he says quietly, "But another devil's got a claim on this soul already."  
  
***  
  
EVIL DEAD  
  
"WICKED"  
  
by M'Lu  
  
Morgan Freeman  
  
Bridget Fonda  
  
and Claire Stansfield as "Alti"  
  
Ash lounges on a picnic blanket on the ground, staring lazily up at the clouds meandering across the sky. He turns his head sharply at the sound of a twig breaking to his left, and smiles.  
  
"Sorry I'm late." Linda says, sitting down on the blanket.  
  
"No problem." Ash sits up, waiting expectantly for a kiss. Linda stares at the ground, a troubled look on her face. "What's wrong, babe?" Ash asks.  
  
"It's getting easier for me to get away." she says thoughtfully. "To come here."  
  
Ash grins. "Isn't that a good thing?"  
  
Linda shakes her head, her dark blonde hair falling like a curtain across her face, and she pushes it absently behind her ear. "Alti's focusing her energy somewhere else. We can slip away from her. She never lets us do that."  
  
"Well, her loss is my gain." Ash observes flippantly, reaching out to sift his fingers through her hair.  
  
"It makes me wonder what could have her that distracted." Linda continues.  
  
"Don't sweat it, babe. Maybe she just got bored." He continues to contentedly play with her silky hair.  
  
"No. No, I don't think so. I think she's too busy preparing for something else." She looks at Ash, biting her lip. "I think it has something to do with you. It was you she wanted from the beginning. She still wants you."  
  
"Tell her I'm flattered, but I already have a girl." He twirls her hair gently around his finger.  
  
"You should be prepared, Ash. It won't be like fighting the others."  
  
"Nothing I can't handle."  
  
"You have to find out how it was done before." Linda says firmly.  
  
"Sure."  
  
"You can't do it out there. You have to do it in here. And I think" -- her voice cuts off abruptly, snd she sits up straighter. "She knows I'm here." Linda mutters, looking around.  
  
"How do you know?" Ash asks.  
  
The lock of Linda's hair he's been playing with comes out in his hand.  
  
"What the hell?" Ash gasps.  
  
"Go, Ash." Linda says, getting to her feet. "Go now, before she gets here."  
  
"I'm not going anywhere without you."  
  
"Ash, I can't." She backs away from him. "Go on, now! She's coming!"  
  
"Linda, come on!" he cries, reaching for her.  
  
Linda shakes her head, tears in her eyes, and holds her hands up in front of her. "I can't go with you."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
The skin on Linda's palm splits open, and a centipede crawls out, climbing partway up her arm. Ash stares at her in dawning horror.  
  
"Because she won't let me." Linda croaks out miserably.  
  
The centipede disappears under her sleeve.  
  
"Linda, what's happening?"  
  
"She can't hurt me, Ash, but she can hurt you." Linda continues to back away. Her skin is toughening, tanning like leather before Ash's eyes. "You have to go, now!"  
  
"I can't leave you here!"  
  
"You don't have any choice!" The wind kicks up hard, nearly knocking them over. "Jesus, Ash, go! She's coming!"  
  
A second fierce blast of wind sends Linda to her knees, and Ash bolts to her side to help her up. When she looks up at him, her face is the rotting face of a corpse. Her eyes are gone, and he is looking into empty sockets. A moth flutters out of one of them; a brown striped spider squats in the other. Skeletal hands reach up and shove Ash roughly away.  
  
"GO!" Linda's voice screams at him out of the gaping mouth of the skull.  
  
***  
  
"Linda!" Ash shouts, sitting straight up and kicking wildly at the sweat- damp sheets tangled around his legs. He stares blindly into the darkness of his room, his breathing gradually slowing.  
  
Shakily, he makes his way into the bathroom and runs cold water into the sink, splashing it over his face and neck. He leans on the vanity, drawing deep breaths, staring at his reflection in the dark mirror.  
  
"This is it, Williams. You're finally cracking up." He studies himself a moment longer, then laughs, somewhat hysterically, and glances down, away from his reflection. His laughter fades slowly as he stares down into the sink. There is a dark shadow moving there, right near the drain.  
  
He flips the light switch with an unsteady hand, illuminating the bathroom in harsh flourescent light.  
  
Illuminating a huge centipede circling the basin of the sink aimlessly.  
  
***  
  
"I fail to see how fidning an insect in your bathtub qualifies as an omen of dark and cataclysmic forces at work." Eldridge Stone comments calmly as he ferociously attacks the dust on his bookshelves.  
  
"First of all, it was in the sink, not the bathtub, and second, the bug wasn't the omen. the dream was. Or I think it was."  
  
Stone glances back at Ash, who is seated in front of his desk. "Well then why did I need to know about the bug?"  
  
"Becuase the bug was in the dream."  
  
"I thought it was in the tub."  
  
Ash drops his face into his hands and counts to ten. "Could you just pretend to listen seriously to me?" he demands. "Just, you know, indulge me? Coddle my ego a little?"  
  
"I am listening! You're making this much more confusing than it needs to be." Ash snorts, which Stone ignores. "Now explain this again. You dreamed about a centipede in your tub?"  
  
"Sink."  
  
"You dreamed about a centipede in your sink."  
  
"No. I dreamed about Linda. There was a centipede in the dream, and when I woke up, there was a centipede in the sink. That struck me as a little odd." He speaks in the tones of someone with an ounce of patience remaining for a conversation that's going to require a pound and a half. "Now, in the dream --"  
  
"Did you bring the centipede with you?"  
  
"Did I -- no. Why would I do that?"  
  
"Well, if it's an omen, it's something worth holding on to, don't you think? Where is it?"  
  
"Most of it's in the garbage can, but a little is probably still in between the treads of my boot. Stone, the bug's not really the important factor here."  
  
"Well then why did you waste all that time telling me about it?" Stone exclaims incredulously.  
  
Ash stares at him, blinking, exasperation momentarilly rendering him mute.  
  
"You know, Mr. Williams, having an intelligent conversation with you is one of the most frustrating things a body can attempt." Stone comments, turning back to his bookshelves.  
  
***  
  
Newton Fisk slams a heavy book shut, dropping it onto a pile beside Oracle's desk. "That's the fourteenth one I've read that's turned up jack. When's lunch?"  
  
"Keep reading." Oracle orders, never taking her eyes from the page she's skimming.  
  
"I'm starving."  
  
"It's hard to worry about your stomach when your head's been severed from your body."  
  
Fisk considers, then takes book number fifteen from the unread stack.  
  
***  
  
"...and that was it." Ash concludes. "She just...rotted away."  
  
Stone is now seated behind his desk, hands folded thoughtfully under his chin. "A disturbing nightmare, to be sure. But what makes you so sure it's prophetic?"  
  
"What makes you so sure it's not?" Ash counters sharply.  
  
"I'm not belittling you." Stone holds his hands up apologetically. "But I haven't heard reports of any major planar disturbances lately."  
  
"Planar disturbances?" Ash scoffs. "What, if the Committee of Creepy Old Guys hasn't heard about it, it's a false alarm?" He crosses his arms obstinately. "Who's the demon slayer around here, anyway?"  
  
"Ash, don't whine. I'm just suggesting that you may be getting yourself worked up over nothing."  
  
"You try having your dead girlfriend pop into your dreams and say 'hi lover, watch your ass' and see how long you play stoic!" Ash bursts out. "Sheesh, I even waited until I'd had the damn dream a few times before I told you!"  
  
Stone is taken back. "This is a recurring dream?"  
  
Ash looks suddenly uncomfortable. "Well, not really. Sort of. It's always a different dream. But it's always her. Linda."  
  
Stone nods, pausing a few moments before proceeding. "This saturday would have been her birthday, wouldn't it?"  
  
Ash's head snaps up, and he looks at Stone warily. "Yeah. So what?"  
  
"Been thinking about that quite a lot, have you?"  
  
Ash scowls at him. "I didn't come here to play shrink, Stone." he says in warning. "I just want to know if there's some new demon in town I should be watching out for."  
  
Stone sighs, and goes to his books, drawing a thick volume with a worn blue cover off of the shelf and flipping through its pages. "All right. You said it seemed like Linda was controlling the dream at first, then something else took over?"  
  
"Right."  
  
"So, let's see what we can find on dream demons."  
  
Ash leans back in his chair and rubs his eyes. "Try looking up the name Alti." he mutters.  
  
Stone's hands falter, and the book falls to the floor with a loud thud.  
  
**********************************  
  
"Alti." Stone repeats.  
  
Ash lifts his head, frowning. "Yeah, that whas the name Linda said."  
  
"You're certain."  
  
"Uhhh, yeah." Ash says slowly. He watches as Stone sinks into his chair, looking stunned. "I assume you know the name."  
  
Stone nods, wordlessly.  
  
Ash narrows his eyes. "This is a very bad thing, isn't it?"  
  
Another nod.  
  
"Eldridge, my man, could you maybe say something, because you're really starting to scare the shit out of me here." Ash requests. "Who is this Alti chick?"  
  
Stone rubs his forehead, then sits up. "She was an Amazon shamaness..." he begins.  
  
***  
  
"...turned to the forces of darkness and destruction, her body aging and weakening unnaturally even as her spiritual power grew." Newton Fisk reads aloud. "Responsible for the slaughter of the Clan of the Daughters of the Wolf under Queen Cyane -- what the hell does this mean?" he demands.  
  
"She killed Her own tribe, Fisk." Oracle clarifies. She is still searching the books. "They exiled Her for the practices She took up, and then She killed them."  
  
"Not personally, though." Oracle and Fisk look up as Szabo enters the office. "By then Alti was essentially crippled. She had to have someone else kill them for Her, enabling Her to trap their spirits."  
  
"Sounds like a fun kind of gal." Fisk observes. "Hey, if you already know so much about her, why do we need this book?" He holds up the one he's been reading from.  
  
"We don't." Oracle says. Fisk looks at her, then at Szabo, who smiles at him. It might be a smile. He's flashing lots of teeth, anyway.  
  
Fisk comprehends, and his face falls. "Oh." he says, and tosses the book aside, reaching for another.  
  
***  
  
"Kandarians?" Ash asks, dibelieving. "Deadites? This bag of bones enslaves Deadites?"  
  
"Among other things."  
  
"But...but...they're Deadites!" Ash sputters. "You can't enslave a Deadite!"  
  
"She's also bound at least three Master vampires to her will following their executions." Stone reports as he reads. "And apparently she was responsible for the death of more than one Amazon queen. She killed a queen named Melosa via another warrior. No one found out about that until after Alti was already dead; Melosa was simply believed to have been defeated in ritual combat..."  
  
Ash, of course, isn't listening. "I mean that's like keeping a...a...really nasty thing in your pocket." he rants on. "Then sticking your hand in there and poking it..."  
  
"What I can't figure out is why she'd be interested in you."  
  
"Likea piranha, or a...rabid...gerbil--" Ash stops abruptly, glaring at Stone. "What do you mean you don't know why she'd be interested in me?"  
  
"Well, frankly, Ash, you're not the sort she normally bothers with. She tends to target individuals with a great amount of psychic energy or intense spiritual power. I can't imagine why she'd want--" he stops when he realizes Ash is positively glowering now, and clears his throat. "I assume there is some personal reason behind this. We'd be wise to find out what that is."  
  
***  
  
"Bold girl. So brave of you, going off to warn him. You know it won't make any difference."  
  
One finger reaches out to stroke the surface of the mirror, in which an image of Linda fighting off two Deadites is shown.  
  
"I shall just have to keep you occupied until I have him here." The finger taps the mirror, and the scrying image is replaced by a reflection, which smiles complacently back at its owner, before changing again, this time showing Ash as he sits in Eldridge Stone's library. "And you, my dear Ashley williams...I've waited centuries for you. I'll have your grandmother's blood yet, even if I have to take it out of your veins."  
  
***  
  
"No, I've already got that one...that's right, we just checked it."  
  
Stone has his phone propped on his shoulder as he flips pages. Ash sits on the floor, rummagin in a trunk full of even more books, as well as binders and folders overflowing with reports, manuscripts, and the occasional loose page.  
  
"Yes...yes...no, I don't believe I've seen that one...I'd appreciate it if you would...fine. Thank you, Rupert...I'll be in touch." He drops the phone back onto its cradle with a sigh.  
  
"Let me guess. Your friend's obscure texts aren't quite obscure enough?" Ash says.  
  
"He's looking into it. Alti is one of the more elusive inhabitants of the dark world. It's difficult to find concrete information on her."  
  
"The only concrete information I need is a How to Kill manual." Ash replies, tossing an unhelpful folder over his shoulder.  
  
"It's not quite that simple." Stone says dryly.  
  
"You're right. I always have such a tough time deciding: flamethrower or axe. They're both so much fun."  
  
"Neither will do you any good against Alti. You won't be fighting her physically."  
  
Ash turns around and arches an eyebrow at him. "What, are we gonna have a spelling bee?"  
  
Stone tips back in his chair. "No. You're going to have a spiritual battle. Your soul against hers -- on her turf."  
  
"And exactly how the hell do you expect me to do that?" Ash demands.  
  
"That's what we have to find out."  
  
Ash stares at him. "Great. Fabulous. I'm supposed to rumble with the Candywoman and you're clueless. This is NOT the moment I would have picked for you to admit you don't know something, Stone."  
  
"Talk less, read more." Stone suggests, heading out the door. "I'm going to see what I can find in the books upstairs."  
  
Ash makes a rude hand gesture at Stone's departing back.  
  
***  
  
"I've found something that might be of interest to you."  
  
Szabo turns his chair around and gives the book laid on his desk a quick glance. "Is it a way to seal the witch back up in Her own little private dreamscape?"  
  
"No." Oracle says, not dropping her gaze from his.  
  
He turns away from her again. "Then I'd say you're overestimating my interest."  
  
"Ah. So you wouldn't want her Her power at your disposal? Forgive me, I'll take this back down to the archives."  
  
There is the faint sound of a sharply indrawn breath, and Oracle smiles. "If Williams should manage to kill Her, it will be like opening a floodgate."  
  
"All those souls..."  
  
"On tap." Oracle finishes. Szabo faces her once again.  
  
"Can you do this?"  
  
"It's a simple enough channeling ritual. The danger lies in the extent of the power I'd be trying to harness."  
  
"Then the risk is great."  
  
"The risk is always great when the prize is something worth wanting."  
  
Szabo considers, then finally nods slightly. "Go. Send Fisk for whatever you'll need. And keep looking for something that will aid Williams."  
  
***  
  
Stone returns to the library after a several-hours-long search to find Ash snoring away with his head pillowed on an enormous book. Stone snorts. "That's what I get for giving you heavy reading."  
  
He turns on the desk lamp and settles in for the next lap of the research marathon, adjusting his glasses on his nose.  
  
A few feet away, Ash mutters something in his sleep.  
  
***  
  
The blinding white glare of sun on snow surrounds him.  
  
"What the--" Ash gasps, sitting up. Snow crunches beneath him. He looks around slowly, taking in his surroundings, noting especially the absence of the floor, the bookshelves, and the demon encyclopedia he'd been napping on. There is nothing but flat, rock-studded, snow-covered ground in all directions.  
  
He gets up, brushing the snow off his clothes. "Okay. You're dreaming, Ash. This is just a dream. Pretty soon you'll walk into your sixth grade classroom naked, and then the midget shows up, and then you can wake up."  
  
"Don't count on it."  
  
The rough voice comes from directly behind him, and he jumps, whirling to face the speaker. A tall, painfully thin woman stands behind Ash, where a moment ago there had been only empty air. She is clad in layers of animal hide, and the fierce wind whips the snarled, dark hair that has escaped the confines of her hood. There is a predatory gleam in her burning eyes, and Ash backs up a step in spite of himself.  
  
"Let me guess." Ash says. "Alti?"  
  
"Very good." She tilts her head to one side. "I've been waiting for you."  
  
"How flattering."  
  
"I've been waiting for centuries."  
  
"You need to get a life." Ash jibes.  
  
She smiles. "That's what I inted to do."  
  
"Tough talk for a figment of my imagination."  
  
Alti laughs. "You think that's what I am?"  
  
Ash narrows his eyes. 'I know this is just a dream."  
  
"Have you ever dreamt that you were falling, Ash? Falling faster and faster and faster, the ground rushing towards you?" Alti circles him as she speaks, her voice little more than a harsh whisper. "Do you ever wonder what would happen if you didn't wake up before you hit the bottom?"  
  
She stops in front of him, leaning her face close to his. "*I* am what would happen."  
  
"Deep." Ash says, nodding. "So are we going to move on the ass kicking any time in the near future? I have other things I could be doing."  
  
"You have all her arrogance, don't you? Total conviction in your own strength."  
  
"Yeah, well, I'm good at what I do." Ash says with a shrug.  
  
"Too bad it wasn't enough to save Linda."  
  
Ash stiffens, his eyes blackening. "Don't you dare--"  
  
"As good as you are, she's still dead, isn't she? What a weight that must be to carry. Do you see her dying in your dreams, Ashley? Does she call out for you to save her? Does she curse you?" Alti's voice drops further. "Or has she forgiven you for delivering her to an early grave?"  
  
Ash is white-faced. "You bitch," he whispers.  
  
"You can't really help it, of course." Alti continues. "Destruction is in your blood. Your grandmother had quite a talent for getting people killed, too."  
  
For an instant, confusion replaces the anger in Ash's eyes. "Oh, that's right. You don't know about her, do you? Quite the remarkable woman, your grandmother. She killed me. Several times." Alti laughs quietly. "It wasn't very effective, as you can see."  
  
"Let's find out if I can do a better job." Ash snarls, lunging for her. Alti scarcely seems to move, but suddenly she has him firmly by the throat. Ash struggles, unable to break her grip on him. Slowly, Alti increases the pressure of her hold, and Ash finds himself being casually choked to death by a woamn he outweighs by at least a hundred pounds. Alti stares unflinchingly into his eyes as he claws at her hand, never releasing her hold as he sinks to his knees.  
  
"I admit, I'm diappointed." she muses. "I expected better from the grandson of Xena. Fortunately for you, this is not the field where our battle will play out."  
  
Ash fights to focus on her through the grey fog filling his vision.  
  
"Tell me about dreams now, child." Alti hisses. "Tell me all about how dreams can't hurt you."  
  
His hands slip from her arm. Her final words to him have a hollow, distorted sound, and he strains to make them out.  
  
"Here's a little gift from your grandmother."  
  
Ash has no air left to scream when the pain explodes through his lower legs, the bones splintering under an invisible force. He doesn't even notice when Alti finally releases him, letting him fall backwards...  
  
********************************  
  
"You saw her? She actually spoke to you?" Stone says, a little more enthusiatically than is appropriate for the situation.  
  
"Yes, spoke to and tried to kill. Just in case you forgot about that part." Ash sits on the edge of the desk, still looking somewhat shaken.  
  
"What did she say?"  
  
"Nothing that made much sense." Ash mutters.  
  
"Do you have any idea what she wants with you?"  
  
"I'm not really sure. She said something about my grandmother. Called her 'Xena', which I don't understand, because my grandmother's name is Alice, but then again she didn't seem like her elevator was going all the way to the top, so--"  
  
"I imagine she meant an ancestor, Ash. Your great-great-great et cetera grandmother."  
  
"Oh. So I guess this means we're back to the books?"  
  
They are interrupted by an obnoxious beeping from the corner of the library, where Stone's fax machine sits. "Maybe not." Stone says hopefully, going over to collect the sheets as they come. "It looks like my friend might have come through for us." He reads the first sheet as more drop to the desk. The fourth is about midway done printing when Stone says, "Oh dear."  
  
"I hate it intensely when you say that." Ash informs him.  
  
"The good news is I know who Xena was."  
  
"Yeah?" Ash says suspiciously.  
  
"The bad news is she was Alti's most hated enemy...and evidently the one who locked Alti out of the physical world permanently." He lloks over his glasses at Ash. "If you're descended from this woman, I'd say Alti's looking for revenge."  
  
"Great. Just great. Normally when people want to kill me it's because I've done something to them personally. You're telling me the only reason this broad has it in for me is because I happen to share DNA with some cavewoman who pissed her off once upon a time?"  
  
"There's more good news." Stone says, skimming the rest of the papers.  
  
Ash snorts. "Yeah, I bet."  
  
"This tells us the specifics of how you can fight her."  
  
Ash perks up considerably. "Now that's what I like to hear. Good old fashioned violence." He rubs his hands together. "How do I toast her?"  
  
"You go into a trance called a 'death walk' and fight her in the spiritual realm. If you defeat her, you'll wake up. If she defeats you, your physical body will die and she'll enslave your soul."  
  
"Again with the soul swallowing." Ash observes, smirking. "So, I'll be...what, like, sleepwalking?"  
  
"Well...no. Not really. You'll be more along the lines of...clinically not quite dead."  
  
Ash stares.  
  
"But you can come back." Stone says helpfully. "As long Alti doesn't kill you, that is."  
  
"Stone, define 'clinically not quite dead.' Because I thought the core idea behind this was for me NOT to die. The whole things seems silly, otherwise."  
  
"You'll have pulse, but it will drop below detection. Your breathing will slow down considerably. Most importantly, you won't be in your body."  
  
"The more I hear about this plan, the more I like my axe and flamethrower idea."  
  
Stone pats him on the shoulder. "Well, think of it as a way to expand your abilities. This could be a marvelous learning experience if you come through it alive. Come on, let's get started."  
  
Ash heaves a large sigh. "Some days I really hate this job."  
  
***  
  
Oracle finshes drawing the last rune on the floor, and sets the charcoal aside. She kneels in the middle of an unclosed circle about eight feet across. Four candles sit, unlit, at counterpoints across the circle, three black and one white. The book she showed Szabo earlier lies before her, open, and above it, just below the white candle, is a silver bowl filled nearly to the rim with water. Oracle looks into it, and her own reflection looks back. One corner of her mouth twitches up in a smile.  
  
***  
  
"Stone," Ash says quietly.  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
"When I kill Alti, that will free Linda, right? She'll be able to go on to wherever she's supposed to go?"  
  
Stone pauses in his work. "Judging from what I've read, yes. Destroying Alti will destroy the plane of reality she's created for herself, and the spirit's she's trapped there will be released." He gives Ash a grave look then. "You know she'll use Linda against you, Ash. She'll use every fear you have against you. Don't give her anything."  
  
Ash considers this in silence, and Stone turns his attention back to his work. He fills a hypodermic needle with clear liquid from a vial as Ash watches, an expression of distaste on his face.  
  
"You know, I'm not exactly a big fan of needles."  
  
"well," Stone says as he taps the hypo to get rid of any bubbles, "if the needle makes you squeamish we could go get a deer or a goat, slit its throat, and have you drink its blood."  
  
Ash immediately rolls up his sleeve. "This crap isn't addictive or anything, right?"  
  
"It's a concentrated tranquilizer. The only permanent damage you have to worry about is whatever Alti does to you."  
  
"Joy."  
  
Stone picks up a bottle of rubbing alcohol and a cotton ball. "Ready?"  
  
Ash takes them from him and swabs off a spot in the crook of his right arm. "No. Do it."  
  
There is a quick, tiny pain, and then an odd warmth spreads through his arm. Ash lies back on the floor, his head cushioned by a throw pillow, and stares at the ceiling. At first, nothing seems to happen, but then the ceiling seems to glow with white light, getting brighter and brighter, until he has to close his eyes against it.  
  
When he opens them, the light is still there, but it's not as brilliant. Ash is once again squinting out over sunlit snow.  
  
"You made it. We weren't sure you'd figure it out."  
  
Ash spins around, but this time it isn't Alti who stands behind him. His jaw drops as he stares into a face that's nearly a mirror image of his own. A bit thinner, and a bit older, with a moustache and small goatee where Ash himself is clean-shaven. The hair is a shade or two darker, as is the skin -- more Mediterranean -- but there is no mistaking the resemblance.  
  
"Are you...me?" Ash asks after a long moment.  
  
"Oh, great gods, no." The man laughs. "But I can claim responsibility for your dashing good looks." He stops suddenly and half turns, as if hearing something, then rolls his eyes. "Yeah, okay, fine, and his ego, too." He sobers then. "Listen, I can't stick around long. Technically, I'm not even here, but layered realities are as wiggy as temporal paradoxes, and even if I wanted to take the time to explain you wouldn't get it, so just listen up." He takes a deep breath. "She'll kick your ass if you let her, Williams. But only if you let her. Things here are only as real as you make them. Once you make them real, they can bite you. Got it?"  
  
Ash looks his doppleganger up and down. "who exactly are you?"  
  
"The voice of experience. Trust me," he pokes Ash in the chest, or makes a motion to; his finger passes right through, "you don't want to givethis witch any advantages. She's got enough of an edge as it is."  
  
"If you know so much about her, tell me how I kill her." Ash shoots back.  
  
"Reality here is what you make it, Williams. Make it yours." He looks up then, and backs off. "I can't help you any more than that. I'm sorry."  
  
Before Ash can say a word the man is gone, tiny motes of light hanging in the air where he stood a moment before.  
  
Ash shakes his head. "Man, I hate this place."  
  
"How unfortunate. Perhaps I can come up with something where you'll feel more at home."  
  
Alti's voice cuts through the air like a razor, and suddenly the world spins. Ash is thrown to his hands and knees, and as clarity returns he realizes the ground beneath him is no longer snow-covered, but grassy and damp, covered in roting leaves.  
  
He breathes the air in deeply, and knows where he is before he even lifts his head to look.  
  
Alti stands on the half-collapsed porch of the cabin. Linda is beside her, and the shamaness has a savage grip on the girl's hair. Ash gets to his feet with a hateful glare on his face. Alti gives him an evil smile.  
  
"Welcome home."  
  
*******************************  
  
Ash gives his attention briefly to Linda, and several emotions battle for dominance on his face, before he focuses on Alti.  
  
"All right. You wanted me here." he says flatly. "I'm here."  
  
"So you are." She gives Linda a small, rough shake. "Aren't you happy to see him, child? It's been so many years! You two must have a lot to talk about. Don't you want to know what he's been up to all this time, Linda? What he's been doing while you've been here with me?" Her words are directed at Linda, but she watches Ash as she speaks, waiting for a reaction. "Tell her, Ash, how's life among the living? She's been here for a long, long time." When he remains silent, Alti tilts her head to the side inquisitively. "What, no interesting tales to tell? Well then, Linda, maybe you'd like to tell him what you've been doing. I'm sure he'd like to know how you've been getting along since he let you die."  
  
Linda's face twists hatefully, and she jerks against the grip on her hair, unssuccessfully trying to get away from the shamaness.  
  
"It was a rather gruesome death, as I recall." Alti continues, starting down the steps and dragging Linda with her. "Violent possession followed by...dismemberment, wasn't it? Talk about a messy ending to a relationship. I wouldn't blame the girl for being a little put out with you, Ashley. After all, it was your idea to go to the cabin, I believe."  
  
"Don't listen to her, Ash!" Linda says sharply.  
  
"And the recordings. Whose idea was it to play those, hmm?" alti demands as she advances on him. "Linda, you didn't want anything to do with them, am I correct? In fact, I believe you asked him several times to turn them off."  
  
Anguish has started to replace anger in Ash's eyes. "Ash!" Linda shouts warningly. "She's full of shit, Ash, don't listen!" For her trouble, Alti gives her hair a wrenching pull that makes her yelp in pain.  
  
"And then, to think that even after you butchered her, even after you cut her up into *pieces*, you still didn't save her soul, Ashley." Alti gloats, stepping up face-to-face with him. "Because she ended up here, with me. And even I wouldn't have been there, watching and waiting, able to snare her, if it hadn't been for you." She reaches out to catch his jaw in a painful hold. "You see, my boy, you were the one I wanted that night. But you wouldn't die, so I took her instead."  
  
With an enraged cry, Ash swings his metal hand at Alti, but she dodges the punch and flings him backwards. He lands hard on the ground, the wind momentarily knocked out of him.  
  
***  
  
Oracle's eyes snap open. She is still seated in the circle, but now Szabo and Fisk are in the room as well.  
  
"It's starting." she informs the men. She reaches for the discarded piece of charcoal and closes the circle. She picks up a box of long fireplace matches and strikes one, lighting first the three black candles and finally the white one in front of her. Settling back into the center of the circle, Oracle goes very still and turns her sight back to the battle.  
  
Fisk leans over to his boss. "What exactly will happen if this works?" he whispers.  
  
"She'll harness all of Alti's power, and the souls she's trapped."  
  
"Oh. What if it doesn't work?"  
  
"You'll probably have one hell of a clean-up job to do on this room." Oracle answers.  
  
***  
  
Ash stands, looking considerably less cocky than he normally does when trading blows with the bad guys. Alti laughs quietly.  
  
"What's the matter, Ashley? I thought this was the part you loved. You don't seem to be enjoying yourself." She looks down at Linda. "She distracting you? Is that it? Well, we can't have that. Sorry dear, but he needs to able to concentrate."  
  
Her hands move lighting fast, snapping Linda's neck, and lets the girl fall limply to the ground.  
  
Ash cries out before he can stop himself, reminding himslef that Linda's already dead, and theb ody on the ground isn't real. *Nothing here is real*, he drills himself. *Nothing here is real Not unless you make it real*  
  
"There." Alti says, satisfied. "Now you have no distactions. No excuses. Show me what the mighty demon slayer can do."  
  
His hands itch instinctively to reach for weapons that aren't there. *Wouldn't do me any good, anyway.*  
  
"Still not quite getting it, are you?" Alti observes. "Poor boy. Take away your nice, solid weapons and you're lost. Let me show you how things are done here."  
  
The blow hits him square in the face, though Alti never raises a hand, and Ash reels away. The next takes him in the stomach, the third smashes against his back, and he lands on his knees.  
  
***  
  
Stone starts as Ash's head snapps to the side, and his body jerks. "Williams," he calls hesitantly, alarmed when he notices Ash's nose is bleeding.  
  
***  
  
Ash gets up, more slowly this time, but determined. "If you think knocking me around is going to keep me down, babe, you're sadly mistaken. I've gone hand-to-hand with things that could snap you over one knee."  
  
Alti arches an eyebrow. "Really? How impressive. Ever met a giant cave serpent?"  
  
"A wha--"  
  
The question is cut off as something huge and heavy slams into one side of his chest, sending him sprawling. As he hits the ground pain explodes through his back and neck, hammering in his skull and nearly making him black out. Ash gasps for breath and rolls over on his side.  
  
"Oh, but that was before your time." Alti muses. "I know you'll remember this, though."  
  
Ash screams as his right wrist is engulfed in agony, the memory of flesh tearing and bone breaking away reviving.  
  
"I was quite taken with your composure following that little stunt. Most people would have died of shock right there on the floor. You're nothing if not resiliant."  
  
Ash forces himself up, and this time Alti's attack is more direct. She hits him twice, hard, and catches hold of the arm he brings up to defend himself, swinging him around againt a tree, barely avoiding a broken branch protruding like a splintered spear from the trunk. He struggles for balance, only to stagger as his side and his knee are pierced by arrows that have never touched him. Alti grabs a handful of his hair and cracks his forehead against the the tree, letting him slump down, stunned.  
  
"You're diappointing me, boy." Alti says leaning over to whisper in his ear.  
  
"Go to hell," Ash growls, launching himself at her. He manages to grab on to the front of her deerskin robe, intent on tackling her.  
  
Cold metal strikes him in the center of his back with a sickening crack, and this time, there is barely a moment of clear pain before an even more terrifying numbness spreads through him. Ash's eyes are wide and dazed as his deadened legs give out beneath him and he collapses.  
  
***  
  
Szabo's fist clenches and unclenches once, a frown drawing his brows together. "What's happening, Oracle?" he demands.  
  
Oracle's face is grim, her eyes watching something the other two can't see.  
  
"She's killing him."  
  
***  
  
Ash groans softly, waiting for the effects of this latest phantom attack to fade as the others have, only to find that no feeling is returning to his legs. He stretches his arm up, fingers digging into the rough bark of the tree, and tries to drag himself upright, to force his legs to move.  
  
Alti flexes her fingers, and Ash makes a strangled sound as an unseen blade lays his gut and his side open.  
  
***  
  
Ash's body convulses violently on Stone's floor, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. The old man draws a sharp breath. "Dammit. Dammit, Williams, come on."  
  
***  
  
Alti kneels beside Ash and grabs him under the chin, forcing his head up. "The last time I saw this face, it was looking down on me, watching me die." She strokes his hair almost tenderly. "What a pleasant reversal this is."  
  
Ash coughs and spits out blood, closing his eyes, blocking her out, wanting nothing more than for her to shut up and get it over with. *Your luck finally ran out, Willaims. What a way to go.*  
  
He barely notices when Alti stands and reaches beneath her robe, drawing a curved dagger from a hidden sheath.  
  
*Deadites, lycanthropes, zombies, evil twins, and homicidal amputated hands, and I'm gonna go down to one creepy old hag. Shit.*  
  
*Ash.*  
  
His eyes snap open.  
  
*Get up, Ash. The fights not over.*  
  
The voice is in his mind, not his ears, but is just as clear. The voice of a commander. A general. A voice used to being obeyed without question or argument.  
  
*I can't.* he replies. *I can't move my legs. I can't fight her.*  
  
*Yeas you can.* It's only as the voice speaks again that Ash realizes it's female. *There's nothing wrong with your legs.*  
  
*I don't know how to fight her.*  
  
*Reality is what you make it.*  
  
*I tried that* he screams back in frustration. *I tried to make her unreal!*  
  
*Exactly.*  
  
And suddenly, he understands.  
  
*Don't fight the shadow. Fight what casts it.* With this last direction the presence seems to fade away, leaving him with Alti.  
  
Leaving him with a weapon.  
  
He makes a tiny attempt to move his legs, and they obey him. Feeling seeps back through his muscles. The pain in his side ebbs away. He glares up at Alti, seeing her for the first time, not as an illusion, but as flesh and blood.  
  
He makes her real.  
  
"I know this much, Ashley Willaims," Alti purrs menacingly, raising the knife. "Whatever blood is in your veins, you are no warrior."  
  
Ash lashes out with both legs, kicking her hard in the stomach, knocking her back. He leaps to his feet and kicks the dagger from her hand, then slowly presses his advance. Alti counters his blows, but is being steadily beaten back. Ash delivers a roundhouse kick to the side of her head that spins her around and nearly takes her off her feet. Enraged, Alti rushes him, the very air around her thrumming with malignant power. Ash sidesteps her nimbly and grips her arm, her own momentum providing the force he needs, and swings her neatly around towards the tree.  
  
Alti's look of rage changes to one of shock as the same branch Ash barely missed impales her, driven into her back and bursting out through the front of her body. Dark blood erupts from the shamnaess's nose and mouth, her limbs flailing.  
  
"You were saying?" Ash prods coldly.  
  
Alti's dark eyes lock onto Ash's, burning with hatred until they glaze over, and her writhing ceases.  
  
***  
  
Oracle feels the gate open the moment of Alti's death, then feels something rushing towards her, like a tidal wave. She looks nto the water, and there is no reflection in it. She lifts the bowl in both hands, watching the water swirl of its own volition, dropping into a whirlpool that seems to extend beyond the bottom of the bowl, reaching out farther and farther, and she follows it, carried along on its current.  
  
Alti's power screams to her, and Oracle opens herself to it, drawing it back towards her. That dark, burning wave gains speed, rushing to her call, and she braces herself for the moment when it will reach her.  
  
Then suddenly, it stops. The rush of power pulls up and waits, frozen.  
  
Oracle looks around with her mind's eye, still in the dark, swirling tunnel she opened.  
  
She is not alone. Someone stands between her and the waiting power.  
  
The other woman smiles at Oracle. It's not unlike szabo's smile, that sort that makes you worry you're about to be eaten. Her icy blue gaze cuts like a razor.  
  
"I don't think so." she says, and punches Oracle in the face.  
  
***  
  
Szabo and Fisk watch as Oracle is flung out of the circle and across the room, the bowl in her hands clattering to the floor. The blonde woman lands in a heap about twenty feet from where she was sitting, and Fisk darts to her side. As he helps her sit up, Szabo walks over and picks up the bowl. A small amount of water reamins in the bottom. He stares into it, his hands clenching around the bowl.  
  
Fisk looks over, noting the expression on his boss's face. "Whatcha got, Mr. Z?"  
  
Szabo responds by hurling the bowl into a wall, where it cracks the paint and richochets off, rolling into a corner.  
  
***  
  
"Williams? Williams. Ash."  
  
Ash groans and opens one eye. Eldridge Stone leans over him, looking anxious.  
  
"Are you all right?"  
  
Ash moves--cautiously--and much relieved when everything seems to be connected and working. He opens both eyes and sits up. "I'm fine, Stone."  
  
Stone looks relived. "I thought she was getting the better of you there for a while."  
  
"She was." Ash kneads the back of his neck, working the kinks out.  
  
"So what happened?" Stone demands eagerly.  
  
"Let's just say Alti needed to spend a little less time in the past and a little more watching where she was going."  
  
Stone looks vaguely disappointed at the abridged tale, and Ash chuckles. "Don't worry, man. You'll get all the gory details, just as soon as--" he cuts off, his eyes widening in shock. Stone turns around, expecting to find some otherworldly beast behind him, or maybe the shamaness herself.  
  
What he doesn't expect is the translucent form a young woman, clad in a long, lacy nightgown, her bare toes peeking out from beneath the hem.  
  
"Who--" he begins, cut off as Ash pushes past him.  
  
Linda smiles up at him as he approaches, pausing a step away from her. "Oh, come on now, Ash. After all you've seen, you're not gonna tell me you're afraid of one boring little ghost, are you?"  
  
Ash's mouth works, but no sound comes out, and Linda laughs lightly. "It's all right, Ashley. Ican go home now."  
  
He finallyfinds his voice. "Linda," he croaks out, "I...I didn't know. I would never have waited so long if I'd known."  
  
She steps up to him and brushes her hand over the side of his head, and his hair ruffles as if touched by a breeze. "I now that."  
  
"I'm sorry."  
  
"It's all right now, Ash."  
  
She stands on tiptoe. He leans down, expecting another insubstantial breath of wind, and is startled by the solid, soft feel of lips against his. His hand moves up experimentally, and sifts through baby-fine hair.  
  
Then she moves back, light and air once more. "Behave yourself." she orders with mock sternness, and Ash chuckles, despite the brightnes in his eyes.  
  
Linda gives him a long look. "Love you."  
  
"You too."  
  
She smiles, content, then turns and walks away. Ash watches her until she shimmers and fades.  
  
END 


End file.
